Performers are on a constant search for value.

What is the
maximum impact possible for the most reasonable amount
of total investment? There are many effects that offer a
lifelong return, but the time and money required to achieve
them make them cost prohibitive.
The current marketplace is brimming with cheap and easy
“quick fix” effects or methods but the performance value is
usually insubstantial, fleeting or both. So what’s worth it?
What lasts?

One time-tested source of value is the incidental wonder. A demonstration relying on

everyday objects, and as few of them as is possible, is a good place to start. This issue’s
offerings are a foundational mind reading effect and an optional supplementary add-on
which both use the most common of everyday objects: the cash register receipt.

While we have developed material around this object for more than 20 years, we feel that
this particular approach offers a new, stronger, underlying structure which allows you to
describe the characteristics of a thought-of object, and conclude by correctly naming the
actual object.

Happy Shopping.
Duis Congue Vestrum Fac
“One thousand years ago, people would wear the feathers and bones of the animals they
hunted. One hundred years ago it was not unusual to see the walls of a gentleman’s trophy
room decorated with moose antlers, sheep horns and a bear skin rug on the floor. Today’s
hunter-gatherer holds onto something quite different: receipts.

These little slips of paper are evidence of my hunting prowess; an adventurous journey to
the supermarket, the harrowing hardware store expedition. And just as witnesses in the
past saw the evidence of success for themselves draped on the floors and hung on the
walls, you can see for yourself what kind of mighty bargain hunter stands here before
you.”

You remove a small collection of folded cash register receipts and toss them to the table.
Your spectator is invited to select one of the receipts as you take one as well, pointing out
some of the bargains you bagged on the receipt. “Look - a college lined notebook for two
dollars. And here a ballpoint pen for under three.” The performer puts away all the re-
ceipts except for the one selected by the spectator.

“Your turn to imagine that you are on the hunt. Look at the top of the receipt to get a sense
of where you are geographically. Maybe you are in a book store, a wine shop, a hardware
store. Mentally picture your surroundings. Now please read down the items and choose
one of them. Imagine you are in that store and about to look for that particular thing.
Have it in mind? Good. See yourself walking through the store, think about all the things
around you. This feels like a market or a grocery store. The thing you are looking for, it’s
edible.”
“Yes” confirms the spectator.
“And I am sensing a physical shape; this feels round; almost a perfect circle” you add.
The spectator nods in affirmation.
You continue, “I’m only seeing this in two dimensions, so it feels flat to me right now.”
The spectator hesitates.
“Please add more detail for me in your mind. If it is not flat, see it in three dimensions.
Imagine that now you’ve located it in the store. See it now. Think about this thing, its
weight, its temperature… Got it. Wow. This is round but like a ball.”
The spectator smiles in agreement.

“OK, now there’s a strong scent, fresh and bright. I’m seeing a single color. My sense is
that the color is also the thing. You are thinking of oranges.”

The spectator confirms each of your mental impressions. You have successfully read his
thoughts.
We have provided you with a collection of special receipts which you can print, cut out
and carry in your pocket or wallet. The items on the receipts are the same but the names of
the various stores, size of the receipts and other elements are different.

There are several related methods for determining a spectator’s thought. One is to provide
him with a list of words or objects which have elements in common and at least one distin-
guishing factor. This arrangement, common in both progressive and branching anagrams,
allows you to make several correct statements leading to a moment where you are certain
of the spectator’s choice.

These receipts have been built using this combination of common/different elements with
an added approach which we have not encountered before: a cumulative binary relation-
ship.

You will make three statements (never questions!) and gauge the spectator’s reaction to
each. If the reaction is positive, you will remember the number associated with the state-
ment and continue. If the reaction is hesitant, you will move on without remembering the
number.

After all three statements, you will know which object was selected and you can go back
and transform your less accurate statements to “clarify” what you were sensing (and re-
shape them to sound like they were correct in the first place.)
Here are the three characteristics and the values associated with them:

Edible (value of 1)
Round (value of 2)
Flat (value of 4)

These are the items on every receipt:

Broccoli – edible but neither round nor flat.

Light Bulbs – round but not edible and not flat.
Oranges – edible, round, not flat.
Magazine – not edible, not round, flat.
Chocolate Bar – edible, not round, flat.
Paper Plates – not edible, round, flat.
Pizza – edible and round and flat.

As you can see, this is a “characteristics” hierarchy that is easily modified or rebuilt using
any other set of qualities or even in another language.

We will now examine examples of the language for each of the possible selections and
how the language which produces hesitant reactions is reframed.
Print and cut out the five receipts. Using two or three different types of paper can add to
the realism of receipts. For example, print one set on normal white paper and a second set
on a sheet of thermal fax paper. By creating one set of five receipts, some on normal bond
paper, the others on the glossier fax paper, the resulting objects will appear to be a more
realistic collection.

We also like to include one more receipt which may be of at least two different types: You
can include an actual receipt from a recent purchase or you can use Photoshop (or an
online tool like www.fakereceipt.us) to make your own custom receipt. The benefit of
making your own is that you can craft the elements to support a good story that fits your
character. This additional receipt is the one you will select first and use as an example.
Maybe you love books, know a lot about music or movies. A receipt from the right loca-
tion will allow your audiences to connect with an authentic aspect of the real you before
the mindreading even begins.

Place all of the receipts in your wallet or pocket and you are ready to begin.

Remove the receipts and toss them onto a table. Try to place them all so the printing side is
down, and arranged so you can tell which one is the extra receipt.

As you explain what you would like the spectator to do, select the extra receipt for your-
self, allowing the spectator to see the items listed thereon. Have the spectator select a re-
ceipt for himself, then put all but his selected receipt away. Turn your back and ask the
spectator to look over the name of the store, what someone might be looking for if they
went to a store like this, and finally to mentally select one item on the receipt.

You will now begin to describe aspects and elements of the store and the selected item.
What is most important is that you never ask questions or “pump” for information. Your
statements should always end-up sounding correct, so any inaccurate statement will never
be “wrong” but will simply require more clarification on your part.

We will now go through examples of the exact language for every possibility.
Broccoli = 1 = edible but not round and not flat.
“I am getting the feeling of a market.”
Positive response.
“This is edible.”
Positive response.
(could be broccoli, oranges, chocolate or pizza)
“Feels round.”
Hesitation.
(this is not oranges or pizza, could be broccoli or chocolate)
“Kind of flat.”
Hesitation
(we now know that positive, hesitation, hesitation = 1 = broccoli, so we go back and make
all of the statements again, but add detail to make them all sound correct)
“See yourself walking through the market to find this. Yes, it is over with the produce.
Look at the colors. This is green. Rounded at the top, and with a flat bottom, as if it was
cut – like a little tree. This is broccoli.”
Light Bulbs = 2 = not edible, round, but not flat.
I am getting the feeling of a market.”
Positive response.
“This is edible.”
Hesitation.
(this is either light bulbs, a magazine or paper plates)
“It feels like food for some reason, it’s round.”
Positive response.
(can be light bulbs or plates)
“I see the color white. Imagine holding this in your hand. Feels flat.”
Positive reaction at first, then hesitation.
(hesitation, positive, hesitation = 2 = light bulbs, so we go back and make all of the state-
ments again, but add detail to make them all sound correct)
“See yourself walking through the market to find these. You are passing by all the food.
Look at the colors. This is white. Imagine it in your hand. Yes, it is round like a piece of
fruit, like a pear. See it in the package. Yes, flat sides. There’s more than one of these in-
side. And now light is coming out of this. They’re light bulbs.”
Oranges= 3 = edible, round, but not flat.
“I am getting the feeling of a market.”
Positive response.
“This is edible.”
Positive response.
(this is either broccoli, oranges, chocolate or pizza)
“Feels like food for some reason, it’s round.”
Positive response.
(can oranges or pizza)
“Feels flat.”
Hesitation.
(positive, positive, hesitation = 3 = oranges, so we go back and make all of the statements
again, but add detail to make them all sound correct)
“This still feels flat to me. Please add detail so I can feel it. Add color, smell, shape. See
yourself walking through the market to find these – this is with the produce. Imagine it in
your hand. Ah, round, but like a ball. Good. It feels fresh, bright. See the colors. Got it.
This color is the same as the object itself. You are thinking of oranges.”
Magazine = 4 = not edible, not round, but flat.
“I am getting the feeling of a market.”
Positive response.
“This is edible.”
Hesitation.
(this is either light bulbs, a magazine or paper plates)
“It feels like food for some reason, it’s round.”
Hesitation.
(can only be magazine)
“Feels flat.”
Positive reaction.
(hesitation, hesitation, positive = 4 = magazine, , so we go back and reframe the statements
to make them all sound correct)
“See yourself walking through the market to find this. Past all the food. Look at the colors.
There is a lot of color. Yes, I see the food. It is on a plate, a round plate. But this is flat. It
is a picture of food. This doesn’t feel like a box or package, it feels like there are more pic-
tures of food inside. Yes. You are thinking of a magazine, specifically a food magazine.”
Chocolate Bar = 5 = edible but not round and flat.
“I am getting the feeling of a market.”
Positive response.
“This is edible.”
Positive response.
(could be broccoli, oranges, chocolate or pizza)
“It feels round.”
Hesitation.
(this is not oranges or pizza, could be broccoli or chocolate)
“And kind of flat.”
Positive reaction.
(we now know that positive, hesitation, positive = 5 = chocolate bar, so we go back and
make all of the statements again, but add detail to make them all sound correct)
“See yourself walking through the market to find this. Yes, it is near the check out. Look at
the colors. This is dark brown. Sometimes these are rounded at the ends, but you are now
making this very flat. Like a flat rectangle. This is candy bar. You are thinking of a bar of
chocolate.”
Paper Plates = 6 = not edible but round and flat.

“I am getting the feeling of a market.”

Positive response.
“This is edible.”
Hesitation.
(this is either light bulbs, a magazine or paper plates)
“I don’t know why feels like food for some reason. It’s round.”
Positive response.
(can be light bulbs or plates)
“I see the color white. Imagine holding this in your hand. Feels flat.”
Positive reaction.
(we now know that, hesitation, positive, positive = 6= paper plates, so we go back and
make all of the statements again, but add detail to make them all sound correct)
“See yourself walking through the market to find this. It’s not with the food but I still see
food. It’s white, round, flat. There are a lot of these. Got it. You put food on these. These
are paper plates.”
Pizza = 3 = edible, round, flat.
I am getting the feeling of a market.”
Positive response.
“This is edible.”
Positive response.
(this is either broccoli, oranges, chocolate or pizza)
“It feels like food for some reason, it’s round.”
Positive response.
(can be oranges or pizza)
“Feels flat.”
Positive response.
(positive, positive, positive = 7 = pizza, so we go back and make all of the statements
again, but add detail to make them all sound even more correct)
“This feels flat to me. Please add detail so I can feel it. Add color, smell, shape. See your-
self walking through the market to find these – feels cold, round, but not like a ball. More
like a disk. . Imagine it in your hand. Now it’s hot. Good. You don’t really cook this; you
just heat it up at home. You are thinking of pizza.”
As you can see, the flow of the language creates the feeling of the mind reading process.
You get things right, but need to go back to clarify some of your initial impressions. This
is a process of impressions and clarification but never an interrogation, a pump for infor-
mation or something that starts to feel like 20 questions.

We have looked through the literature carefully and have not been able to find another
similar specific application of the binary sorting procedure associated with The Impenetra-
ble Secret or The Magic Age Cards.

Leo Boudreau is important writer in the area of secretly sorting coded information and its
application to magic and mentalism. In his 1989 book Skullduggery:
A Hornbook of Binary Magic, he offers the routine The Progressive
Spirit on page 58. His method uses six physical characteristics to de-
termine which of 7 objects is being concentrated upon by the specta-
tor. The method is not additive binary as here, but is instead a series
of six statements which are made in a progressive order. As soon as
the performer receives a “no” response, he knows which object was
selected. One challenge with this method is that all the physical fea-
tures must be progressive, and that you may end up with as many
statements as you have objects, less one.
Note in contrast that with the additive binary system offered in this issue of the Journal,
you can now go out and create an unlimited number of receipts with almost any objects
and in any language.

By simply adding one more characteristic and assigning the value of 8 to it, you can
increase the items on the list from 7 to 15 and only require one additional statement to
know which item was mentally selected.

The ratio of four statements to identify

which of 15 items was selected is an ex-
cellent return on investment for the mind
reader.

To create local receipts, a receipt in a for-

eign language or a receipt with different
items, you can customize them simply by
going to your local grocery store and
buying those objects.

If the items on your list are more ambi-

tious than your budget, you can always
return the items later and keep the receipt.
“In 2009, scientists Kruger and Byker published an article in The Journal of Evolutionary
Psychology. They were looking at the way humans shop and concluded that “modern
shopping behaviors are an adaptation of our species' ancestral hunting and gathering skills.
Even through the environment and the objects being gathered have changed, women
scored higher on skills and behaviors associated with gathering and men scored higher on
skills and behaviors associated with hunting. Thus, even though the prey is now an expen-
sive home theatre system, men are still applying the skills that were developed to obtain
meat in a hunter-gatherer environment."

“Have you ever gone to buy one specific thing, but then became so engaged in the process
of “shopping” that you ended-up buying everything except the one thing you really
needed? Our mind is in an unusual hybrid state when shopping because it is responding to
both the high tech, non-stop marketing that goes on all around us while also exhibiting the
most primitive of hunter-gatherer behaviors.”

The performer removes a small collection of cash register receipts from his wallet, sepa-
rates one from the others and hands it to the spectator with a pen. “Imagine you went
shopping and forgot to buy one thing. Don’t say what that thing is, but write it down on
the back of this receipt, like a one item shopping list for the next time you go to the store.”
The receipt is turned writing side down and slipped back into the wallet and put away.

“You now have one item in mind. Something you need to remember to buy. Take any one
of these other receipts and select another item. This will represent something you bought
last time that you need to buy again.

You are now thinking of two different things in two different ways: the first item is linked
to your hunter instincts. This is something you need to hunt for, to locate, to find. The sec-
ond item is connected to your gatherer aspect. You know to where you would return to
gather more of this thing you have gathered in the past. So while all of this is expressed
through the activity of shopping, two very different ways of thinking are going on while
you are engaged in this activity.”

The performer is now able to read the mind of the spectator and describe aspects and fea-
tures of the two items and then exactly identify and name them.

The second half of this routine, the gathering aspect, is identical to The Action of Receiv-
ing described earlier. The hunting element with the writing on the back of the receipt is the
natural application of using the back of a receipt as the billet for writing and a peek wallet
as the natural place from which you take the receipts and then into which you replace
them.
Take the set of five receipts, add your personal fifth receipt and place all of them inside
your peek wallet. We recommend THE SEER wallet as our favorite, but after spending
thousands of dollars on every other peek wallet sold over the last 25 years, we may be bi-
ased.

Remove the receipts and place them on the table. Pick up the extra receipt and fold it with
the cash register printing on the inside so the blank back is exposed as the most obvious
writing surface. Hand the spectator the folded receipt and a pen and ask him to print the
name of an object that he has forgotten to purchase in the past. Make sure he knows you
are not looking at and cannot see what he has written.

Ask him to turn the receipt writing side down, then take the slip from him and slide it di-
rectly back into your peek wallet. Drop the wallet to the table and ask your spectator to se-
lect another receipt from which he will choose a second item on which to concentrate. Af-
ter he has selected one of the receipts, place the others away in the wallet and put the wal-
let in your pocket. It is in this natural moment that you will be able to secretly peek at the
written information through the secret window in the peek wallet. You now know the writ-
ten item.

Proceed as in the first routine, but with the following beneficial differences: first, there is a
chance that the item the spectator wrote on the first receipt is one of the seven items on
your prepared receipt. If this is the case, use this to your advantage. You can choose to ei-
ther have this play as a remarkable coincidence (of which you are aware because you can
read his mind) or you can use this to aid in the “corrections and clarifications” of deter-
mining the second selected item.

If the written item is different from all the items on the second receipt, you have the bene-
fit of reading two thoughts through two different methodologies. Use the strengths of each
to enhance the other but make sure that your mind reading process is consistent.

It is likely that you will be able to attribute the one to three potential “hesitations” to as-
pects related to the written item. For example, if the spectator wrote “toilet paper” (and the
two most common forgotten items we have received are “milk” and “toilet paper”) it
would register as not edible, but could be considered round and flat. Also, since you know
that the object written is not edible, you could phrase your first statement this way, “One
of these is definitely not food, but fees directly related to eating.” This is both true of the
written object and can be used to determine if the unwritten object is edible.

For more information on our modern connection to earlier behavior, look at Daniel Kruger
and Dreyson Byker’s published study "Evolved Foraging Psychology Underlies Sex Dif-
ferences in Shopping Experiences and Behaviors" in the Journal of Social, Evolutionary,
and Cultural Psychology, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 315-327.
 GIFT CARDS NOW AVAILABLE
SALE
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3597501211759 3.10
LIGHT BULBS 4PK,
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PIZZA THIN CRUST FROZEN
788623855058 7.49
CHOCOLATE BAR HERSHEY'S LARGE 7 OZ
46397286299 3.55
ORANGES: 3 @ 0.77
79341101043225 2.31
FOOD & WINE MAGAZINE
82280164481274 6.45
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Your Cashier Is: RACHEL
Term: 002 STORE#076 12:17:58

BROCCOLI STALK ORGANIC 3.10

46397286299
LIGHT BULBS 4PK, 100 W 9.29
933668633940
PIZZA THIN CRUST FROZEN 6.79
788623855058
CHOCOLATE BAR HERSHEY'S LARGE 7OZ 3.55
3597501211759
ORANGES: 3 @ 0.77 2.31
79341101043225
FOOD AND WINE MAGAZINE 6.45
01993365866
PAPER PLATES WHITE, 24 CT. 3.69
82280164481274
SUBTOTAL 35.18
TOTAL 35.18
CASH PAYMENT 36.00
CHANGE DUE 0.82
# ITEMS 7
REC#1-1167-0826-0010-8074-3 VCD#302-487-077

-------------------------------------------

111670826001080743VCD302487077
.
 food stores
#436
Monday Thru Saturday 8AM to 10PM
Sunday 9AM to 8PM
BROCCOLI STALK ORGANIC 3.10
01993365866
LIGHT BULBS 4PK 100 W 9.29
788623855058
PIZZA THIN CRUST FROZEN 6.79
79341101043225
CHOC BAR HERSHEY'S LARGE 7OZ 3.55
933668633940
ORANGES 2.31
3 @ 0.77
46397286299
FOOD & WINE MAGAZINE 6.45
3597501211759
PAPER PLATES WHITE, 24 CT. 3.69
82280164481274
Subtotal 35.18
7 BALANCE DUE 35.18
Debit Card 35.18
Seq. # = 205578
CHANGE 0.00
CASHIER NAME: RUTH
C0056 #041 10:39:04 S00436 R001

great food. great people. great prices

VISIT OUR NEW WEB SITE
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 get something
extra at raley's

TERM# 9 STORE# 025 OPERATOR# 902254

15:50:18

* BROCCOLI STALK ORGANIC 3.10

* LIGHT BULBS 4PK
4PK 100 W 9.29
* PIZZA THIN CRUST FROZEN 6.79
* Choc Bar Hershey's Large 7 Oz 3.55
* ORANGES 2.31
3 @ 0.77
* FOOD & WINE magazine 6.45
* PAPER PLATES WHITE,, 24 CT. 3.69

SUBTOTAL 35
35.18
total 35.18
.18
CREDIT CARDS 35
35.18
XXXXXXXXXXXX9779
06416C
CASH CHANGE .00

NUMBER OF ITEMS 7

***************************************
CREDIT CARD PAYMENT

15:50:18

M ACCT XXXXXXXXXXXX9779

WITHDRAWAL FROM CREDIT CARDS 24.22

RESPONSE CODE 09416C

RM00 CASH BACK .00
MERCH #06626684001

65+65+655+65
0088525984231714

.
 #05041
250 7599 0021 REG: 001 10:46 AM
BROCCOLI STALK ORGANIC 3.10
LIGHT BULBS 4PK,
PK, 100 W 9.29
PIZZA THIN CRUST FROZEN 6.79
CHOCOLATE BAR HERSHEY'S LARGE 77OZ 3.55
ORANGES: 3 @ 0.77 2.31
FOOD & WINE MAGAZINE 6.45
PAPER PLATES WHITE,
WHITE 24 CT. 3.69
SUBTOTAL 35.18
======
TOTAL 35
5.18
VISA ACCT 8243 35.18
BALANCE .00
CHANGE .00

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